VARUS
VARUS (Οὔαρος), a river which the ancient geographers make the boundary of Gallia and Italia, as it is now the boundary of France and Italy. (Mela, 2.4; Ptol. 2.10.1.) It is only the lower part of the Var which forms the boundary between Italy and France. The river gives its name to the French department of Var, the eastern limit of which is the lower course of the river Var. The larger part of the Var is in the Sardinian territory. It is only the mouth of the Var which Ptolemy names when he fixes the limit between Italy and Gallia Narbonensis. D'Anville remarks on the line of Lucan (1.404)-- “Finis et Hesperiae promoto limited Varus--” that he alludes to the extension of the boundary of Italy westward from the summit of the Alpis Maritima, which is Italy's natural boundary. He adds that the dependencies of the province of the Alpes Maritimae comprehended Cemenelium (Cimiez) and its district, which are on the Italian side of the Var and east of Nicaea (Nizza). [CEMENELIUM]. But D'Anville may have mistaken Lucan's meaning, who seems to allude to the extension of the boundary of Italy from the Rubicon to the Varus, as Vibius Sequester says: “Varus nunc Galliam dividit, ante Rubicon” (ed. Oberl.). However, the critics are not agreed about this passage. (D'Anville, Notice, &c.; Ukert, Gallien, p. 81.) [G.L]